THE WHALING INDUSTRY 685 



Globicephala ventriculosa (the pilot whale, blackfish, caaing whale, etc.) is per- 

 haps the most important species of small whale in the world. It strands in small 

 herds or is driven ashore in even greater quantities off the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 Cape Cod, Greenland, and especially Faeroes, where it is a major part of the 

 local subsistence economy. It is practically cosmopolitan in distribution. The Jap- 

 anese hunt it at sea. In the days of the pelagic sperm whaler blackfish were fished 

 all over the world, especially in the mid-Atlantic. The oil then was mixed with that 

 of the right whale though the head oil was saved for lubrication. 



It is from 15 to 20 feet or more in length. In appearance it is pure black, with 

 a white mid-ventral streak, heavy curved dorsal fin set forward of the middle, and 

 a bulbous head. When enormous herds assemble on migration and move with 

 semimilitary precision, such is the social cohesion that the whole group can some- 

 times be turned and driven onto the beach. 



The average yield of body (blubber) oil is about 40 to 50 gallons, and from the 

 head and jaw, about 2 gallons. Analysis of the head oil by distillation under re- 

 duced pressure, by Tsujimoto and Koyanagi (1937) showed a high content of 

 isovaleric acid, of which some was waxy in the form of cetyl isovalerate. Toyama 

 and Tsuchiya (1934) demonstrated the body blubber oil to be a normal glyceride 

 with a low Reichert-Meissl value (low content of fatty acids of low molecular 

 weight, such as isovaleric). 



In the Cape Cod region blackfish beach themselves either accidentally or de- 

 liberately to escape the killer whales, and the carcasses are utilized. Today such a 

 "fishery" yields most of the domestic United States production of natural watch 

 and fine instrument oil. 



When the summer migrating herds appear off Greenland, they are pursued and 

 driven ashore. However, the catch is exceedingly variable; some years the whale 

 does not appear at all, and in others hundreds are taken. This fishery has been 

 prosecuted only since 1920, the supposition being that the gradually warming 

 ocean currents off S. W. Greenland have brought the pilot whale farther north 

 as they have the common porpoise and other marine animals (Anon., 1944). 



In Japan the pilot whale, along with the minke whale, bottlenose, etc., is cap- 

 tured by the smaller whaling boats. The statistics are mixed with those of the 

 false-killer whale, but it is believed that blackfish predominate in this category. 



However, it is in the Faeroe, Orkney, and Shetland Islands, principally the 

 former, that the pilot whale is annually taken in large numbers by drives on the 

 beach, and enters importantly into the economy and culture of the inhabitants. 

 This fishery has existed for many hundreds of years, and the annual toll for cen- 

 turies probably exceeds a thousand (Williamson, 1945). 



Lissodelphis borealis (finless dolphin) is distributed in northern seas, but 

 fished only in Japan by the porpoise boats. Possibilities of a fishery elsewhere are 

 not known. A southern species (L. peroni) is little known. 



Family Phocoenidae: True porpoises 

 Phocoetia phocoena (common porpoise, harbor porpoise, puffing pig, herring 

 hog, etc.), with related geographic forms, is the common inshore and river por- 

 poise of most of the world, especially the northern hemisphere. It is 4 to 6 feet 

 long, weighs 100 to 200 pounds, and travels in small to fairly large groups. In the 

 19th century a fishery existed in the Bay of Fundy and Grand Manan Island, 



